I love my little cat!

I've had a rough last few days. Those of you that know me, know that I love animals with everything that I am. I become an overall happier person when I have animals around me...a characteristic that Michael finds a little strange but has accepted :) On Wednesday when I was treating my animals for fleas/ticks I accidently grabbed the wrong tube of treatment for Bailey and applied Advantix (Piglet's medicine) to her. Most of you probably don't know, but Advantix is lethal for cats--even a very small quantity. I realized, halfway through the application, my mistake and quickly put her in the sink to wash it off. I called the veterinarian and they had me wash her again, but with Dawn dishwashing soap, more thoroughly. I also had to rush her to the vet in case she started having seizures or spasms. This medicine has a certain chemical in it that feline's bodies cannot process and will kill them if it goes untreated immediately. The vet called the Bayer hotline (manufacturer of the product) and they said that we did all we could do. She stayed at the vet all day, but then when I picked her up she started acting very strangely at home. I had to take her back to the vet, where they again said she was fine. About 2 hours later her breathing became extremely shallow and she started turning circles in her carrier. As I became a basketcase, my friend Nancy drove me and Bailey to the emergency vet clinic. They had actually seen multiple cases of this and confirmed that we had done everything we could do as far as saving her life...and that she was going to be okay. It was just going to take time to get out of her system and in the meantime she was going to be very uncomfortable. They gave her a shot of valium and a water "hump" so she didn't get dehydrated. She was finally able to get some sleep, but was unable to stay asleep unless I was rubbing her back (her skin felt as though it was "crawling")...which means I got zero sleep that night. Small price to pay for the agony I had caused her. After another strange morning, her skin stopped crawling enough so that she could fall asleep on her own. She has been sleeping lots and showing tremendous improvements as the hours pass. I want to know why this product can even be sold to households that have a cat! There should be some serious regulations on who is allowed to buy this product. As much as I love my animals and would do anything for them, I still made a mistake and it almost cost my cat her life. Needless to say, I will never be buying this product again and I'm very grateful that God took care of my little cat when she was in so much pain. Oh yes, it made me even more pissed off that the Marine Corp made Michael deploy again.

Here's a picture taken a few weeks ago when Bailey was acting silly: